Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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THE FIFTH QUARTER LOU SOMOGYI did with its 20-3 "signature" victory at then-No. 10 Michigan State Sept. 15, thereby breaking yet another negative distinction of losing nine straight to a top-10 team. Yet I wouldn't consider that neces- sarily "unexpected." The Irish had de- feated the Spartans 31-13 a year earlier, and Michigan State's rating was based more on a strong 2011 than the reali- ties of major personnel losses in 2012. It was a quality road win, but not a "wow factor" triumph, the type you talk about in awe decades from now. Oklahoma has a chance to provide more of a wow factor. Prior to the 2012 campaign, I knew of extremely few, if any, Notre Dame faithful who weren't already conced- ing road defeats at Norman, Okla., and Los Angeles versus USC. That's a main reason why Kelly's program was still deemed by most college football analysts as "a year away." Half of me, the logical side, can- not envision a victory at Oklahoma. It's ridiculous and just looks wrong for Notre Dame to have such a domi- nating 8-1 lead in the series. This is a state-wide crusade for the Sooner State against the one program that has had its number. It's Alabama 1986 all over again, when the Crimson Tide dedi- cated the 28-10 win against the Irish to deceased coach Bear Bryant, who was 0-4 against Notre Dame. Furthermore, the Sooners seem to Stoops, whose name was originally bandied around the most as a coveted Notre Dame candidate after Charlie Weis was fired in November 2009, had a 30-14 lead at Notre Dame in his first season back in 1999, before losing 34- 30. No way he's going to allow it to be 0-2. The other half of me, the emotion side, can't pick against this Notre Dame team. This is one of those once- in-a-generation "where did that come from?" seasons — one that is in 24- year symmetry with the magical rides in 1964 and 1988 where after years of walking in the college football wilder- ness, Notre Dame began its new jour- ney toward the Promised Land. Just like in 1964 and 1988, the Irish are destined to travel to Los Angeles in the regular-season finale with the national title hanging in the balance. Notre Dame had already achieved so much in the first half of the season that its two primary goals in the sec- ond half to separate itself from the last 18 seasons (1994-2011) are: 1. Be the first Irish team since 1993 to record less than three losses. 2. Win a BCS game for the first time since the system was implemented in 1998 (29 other programs have done so during that time). To assist in that destination, achiev- be rounding into form and are 79-4 at home under head coach Bob Stoops. They've already lost at home once this year, to Kansas State, so odds are slim it will occur again. ing the unexpected in Norman would help fulfill such aspirations, logically and emotionally. ✦ Senior Editor Lou Somogyi has been at Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 1985. He can be reached at lsomogyi@blueandgold.com